Cobra Tyres

[Hedgehog]

Just to let everyone know, I had a word with the technical guys at Avon (the factory is 8 miles away and right next to where I work) and they said that the correct pressures for the Avon Cobra tyre, when fitted to the Valk, is 40 front and 40 rear.

I pointed out what others included the US Cobra Rep whose e mail was quoted on the site have said and apparently a correction fax is on its way to them.

The engineers state 40 / 40. The guy to contact is AVowles (at) @coopertire (dot) com.


Of course individual circumstances and preferences come into it - but the benchmark by the manufacturers is as above.

Only sayin'!


HH

[Farther]

Thanks for the information.  My newly installed Avons are at 35/41 but will be at 40/40 next ride.

[CajunRider]

+1 on Thanks!

I usually run 42 in the front (CT rear).  I've run it down to 38 without "feeling" any difference... but below that the difference can be felt in the way the fat lady steers. 

[Bugslayer]

Just to let everyone know, I had a word with the technical guys at Avon (the factory is 8 miles away and right next to where I work) and they said that the correct pressures for the Avon Cobra tyre, when fitted to the Valk, is 40 front and 40 rear.

I pointed out what others included the US Cobra Rep whose e mail was quoted on the site have said and apparently a correction fax is on its way to them.

The engineers state 40 / 40. The guy to contact is AVowles (at) @coopertire (dot) com.


Of course individual circumstances and preferences come into it - but the benchmark by the manufacturers is as above.

Only sayin'!


HH

Cool.
Do me a favor and show them these pictures. I would seriously like to hear them explain why this happened... Thanks! 

[Hoser]

In reference to the splitting tires pictured, could it be too much air pressure?  I'm more a 35 psi guy my self.  I don't weigh much or ride two up very often. Hoser

[whitestroke]

Bugslayer I had the same thing happen to my Avon Venoms, but they were 9 years old.  How old were yours when they bubbled?

[SpidyJ]

I like my venoms, they just don't last more the 5 or 6K on the rear.
Had em on my HD too.

[John U.]

I like my venoms, they just don't last more the 5 or 6K on the rear.
Had em on my HD too.

What pressure do you run in the rear Sipdy? I'm surprised at some of the pressures mentioned in this thread. I thought the consensus recommendation is  that 40 to 42psi front and 44 to 46 rear (some go higher) will reduce the likelihood of cupping and give better tire wear, not to mention better gas mileage.
Anyway, those are the pressures I run now and other than an occasional flat I don't have cupping, splitting or premature wear problems, anymore.
After wearing out the rubber that came on my new to me Standard in record time it was clear to me that I either needed some advice or some investments in motorcycle tire companies.
I found that advice on this board and have just repeated it.

[Bugslayer]

Bugslayer I had the same thing happen to my Avon Venoms, but they were 9 years old.  How old were yours when they bubbled?

I usually put on a new rear tire every other year. (more or less).  I'm guessing that tire was on the bike no more than two years.... probably a little less. But that doesn't say how old the tire actually was. It could have been quite a bit older.

Since I bought the bike in '99, I've only ran Dunlops and Avons. All of them at 40psi. This is the second Avon that started to come apart. The first one developed large bubbles in the middle of the tread. Avon replaced it no charge.

The Dunlops wore out pretty quick....... but they never fell apart like my Avons did. Never again will I run an Avon.

[Pappy!]

Bugslayer - You can find the date of manufacture on the tire..........take a look and see!

[Rebyl]

Tyre's are always an interesting topic, what suits you may not suit me as per temperature, types of roads, to each their own. I always run Avon and will change out my Dunlop's that came with this bike as soon as they wear out, just don't trust them for our roads and climate, they can get a little slippy on our roads...which are crap by the way.
Down Under my pressure has always been 38 front and 42 Rear, good mileage and cornering with no cupping to speak of. I ride hard and weigh a Ton 

[Bugslayer]

Bugslayer - You can find the date of manufacture on the tire..........take a look and see!

Yes, I knew tires had the date. But that tire is long gone.  I didn't think about checking the date until after my new tire was on, and the old tire was left at the dealership.
Thanks!

[Bugslayer]

Tyre's are always an interesting topic, what suits you may not suit me as per temperature, types of roads, to each their own. I always run Avon and will change out my Dunlop's that came with this bike as soon as they wear out, just don't trust them for our roads and climate, they can get a little slippy on our roads...which are crap by the way.
Down Under my pressure has always been 38 front and 42 Rear, good mileage and cornering with no cupping to speak of. I ride hard and weigh a Ton 

I agree 100%.  "To each their own". That's why I'm just speaking for myself. No more Avons.

[Hedgehog]

I can understand  Bugslayer... once confidence is gone, its gone. :'(I'll send the pics to Avon and see what they say. I'm doing a review for these on my website so I'd like to get to understand this issue.

Cheers

Hedgehog
(and his new non-profit website)
Bigbikemad.com

[lljjmm]

I also a tire that started to separate like shown in the picture, but cracking not as severe. It was a very slight split happening, I noticed it as I was checking the air, it had a very, very slow leak , took a couple of days to really determine what was happening. Used some soap on the crack and sure enough it was ever so slightly leaking. hardly see the crack.

When the tire was remove, the inside was slightly bubbled. The cracks that were appearing were probably caused by the tire separating.  Even though the tire still had decent tread on it (about 5K left) my supplier did not want to bother with warranty. Real nice eh. Yes I am from Canada.

The tire was on the bike  (about 8K miles), date on tire 3910 (Oct/2010), 39th week of 2010, was replaced in fall of 2012.

[lljjmm]

Here is a picture of my rear tire

[lljjmm]

How do you get pictures on here?  Thanks

[sandy]

I like my venoms, they just don't last more the 5 or 6K on the rear.
Had em on my HD too.

I love Cobras. My current rear has 26K+ miles on it and the wear bars just surfaced a few weeks ago. I have a new one that'll go on in a few days. I'll post pics then. I always maintain 46 PSI and I ride year round in AZ with air temps in the 110+ range. When radials are run too soft, they squirm around which causes the belts to generate more friction internally. That's when the split and fail.

[98pacecar]

Now ya'll,,,, are gonna make me get da air gauge out,,, in da A.M....  

N' check,,, my Avons...     

[lljjmm]

The tire that separated (as in my above post) on my IS was checked on a regular basis, keeping the front at 42 and rear at 45, it still separated. My last rear Avon Cobra went to 17K miles. This one only went 8K miles

[Bugslayer]

I can understand  Bugslayer... once confidence is gone, its gone. :'(I'll send the pics to Avon and see what they say. I'm doing a review for these on my website so I'd like to get to understand this issue.

Cheers

Hedgehog
(and his new non-profit website)
Bigbikemad.com

Thanks! I'm looking forward to hearing what they say.

[Bugslayer]

 

How do you get pictures on here?  Thanks

I'm not sure if I can explain this, but I'll try...  
You'll need to upload your pic to an image hosting site. I use Photo Stash. Then copy the pictures URL. Then click "insert image" . (It's the far left icon on the bottom row....  above where you type a message. ) then paste.



You can preview your message to see if the picture comes up. If you still have trouble, feel free to email your pics to me, and I'll post them for you.
geist4@sbcglobal.net

[Bugslayer]

How do you get pictures on here?  Thanks

Here ya go.

[lljjmm]

Thank you very much

[Hedgehog]

Hi Bugslayer,

I'm now in touch with a guy I know at Avon. He has the pics. He's asked for the following:

Tyre size, bike it was fitted to and also the tyre pressure used?

If you can let me have that I'll pass it on. I'd like to know the answer to this myself as I'm about to write a feature on Avon Tyres for Bigbikemad.com.

http://bigbikemad.com/honda-valkyrie-f6c.html

Dave

[Bugslayer]

Hi Bugslayer,

I'm now in touch with a guy I know at Avon. He has the pics. He's asked for the following:

Tyre size, bike it was fitted to and also the tyre pressure used?

If you can let me have that I'll pass it on. I'd like to know the answer to this myself as I'm about to write a feature on Avon Tyres for Bigbikemad.com.

http://bigbikemad.com/honda-valkyrie-f6c.html

Dave

The bike is a 1997 Valkyrie Tour. (GL1500CT) The tire is the stock size for that bike. (Rear tire) 180/70/16. Air pressure was kept at 42 psi.
Thanks for sending the pics!

[Bugslayer]

Thank you very much

My pleasure.

[Hoser]

I found a out of date new venom in a plastic bag in my garage, I have it on the rear and about half worn, 6,000 miles on it, and have had no problems.  It's probly 8 to 10 years old.  I run at 35 psi.  Hoser 

[old2soon]

Now ya'll,,,, are gonna make me get da air gauge out,,, in da A.M....  

N' check,,, my Avons...     

    You and me as old gear heads know it just ain't the Avons that need checking.  I have pneumatic tires on my hand cart that get checked!!  RIDE SAFE.

[steveB (VRCC UK)]

Just me I guess - would not use Avons if you paid me to ride with them. 4 replaced under warranty -
2 rear Venoms and 1 rear Cobra plus 1 front Cobra.
All the rears delaminated and or split after a couple of thousand miles. The front was completely out of round and the sidewalls were up to 10mm out of parallel.
My feeling, its a quality control problem since some seem to run with no problems and others fail.
Use Metzlers almost exclusively now on both my Valks.
BTW Good to hear you're back in the saddle Hedgehog - time to join the UK group on some of our rideouts, weekend jaunts and Euro-meets. (I'm just down the road from you in Bristol so drop in if you're passing)

[whitestroke]

There's one of the bubbles I found on my rear tire. Bike was getting real squirrely in the corners.
AVON VENOM with 3.5k miles

[Ricky-D]

Definitely a ply separation.

Have you ever had to patch or plug that tire?

***

[PAVALKER]

There's one of the bubbles I found on my rear tire. Bike was getting real squirrely in the corners.
AVON VENOM with 3.5k miles

Wow.... looks like dry rot, and only in that spot... odd.    But that wheel shines very nicely.

[Hedgehog]

Hi Bugslayer,

Right, I just heard from Avon UK who are a mere 6 miles from me. Their reply (Ashley Vowles Avon UK)  was:

''Looking at the photographs attached, I’ve not seen this type of cracking in the groove before where it appears to have split into the tread from the groove. It looks like a fatigue/stress cracking that may have been caused by inflation or due to the service conditions of the tyre which aren’t known to us. There also seems to be a degree of irregular wear in one of the photos which may also indicate pressure or loading issues in service''

They then went on to suggest that you need to return the tyres to the dealer you bought them from and ask them to return using their internal returns process to Avon. Their tech guys will then check it out. Make the dealer aware he needs to do this. This procedure will save you the shipping cost.

Hope that helps. Dave.




.

[Hedgehog]

PS SteveB - happy to meet up but my new Valk is in pieces - unless you fancy having a ZZR1400 or BMWK1200 along for the ride..

Dave.

 

[Bugslayer]

Hi Bugslayer,

Right, I just heard from Avon UK who are a mere 6 miles from me. Their reply (Ashley Vowles Avon UK)  was:

''Looking at the photographs attached, I’ve not seen this type of cracking in the groove before where it appears to have split into the tread from the groove. It looks like a fatigue/stress cracking that may have been caused by inflation or due to the service conditions of the tyre which aren’t known to us. There also seems to be a degree of irregular wear in one of the photos which may also indicate pressure or loading issues in service''

They then went on to suggest that you need to return the tyres to the dealer you bought them from and ask them to return using their internal returns process to Avon. Their tech guys will then check it out. Make the dealer aware he needs to do this. This procedure will save you the shipping cost.

Hope that helps. Dave.




.

Dave,
I appreciate you giving my pictures to Avon.

I understand that without actually looking at the tire, it would be very hard for them (Avon) to determine what caused the damage.  However, she seems to be leaning towards improper inflation and/or "loading issues". She was very careful not to suggest the tire was defective.

I wish I still had the tire. It stayed at the dealership when they put the new tire on. I never have kept a worn out tire...... but I wish I'd kept this one. I'd love for Avon to take a closer look at it.

Thanks again for the help!

[whitestroke]

Definitely a ply separation.

Have you ever had to patch or plug that tire?

***

Never a patch or plug.  When I replaced the tire the inside looked to have bubbles in the fiber in 3 or 4 spots that matched (the spots) where the bubbles were on the outside of the tire.

[Bighead]

Wow I have run Avons only for over ten years and never had a problem on 4 different bikes.  I read where someone got 16k on a rear? And someone else said 26k? I am lucky to get 8 or 9k before it don't feel safe when riding hard. I BTW run at 42psi.

[Hedgehog]

I had Cobra's on my last Valk and no probs. either....

Avon have just offered me (Bigbikemad)  a free set (3D-XM) to review on my ZZR 1400 . So that review will get posted in due course.

Dave

[Flat6Valk]

40/40 as a general rule works.  worn shocks also have a negative effect on tire life.  I know this from experience.

my valkyries like me to run 40/42 and good shocks.

worn shocks at one time cost me a rear tire blow out. 

average tire life for my cobras has been 17 thousand miles.

one more factor is the type of roads your travel.  smooth pavement equals more miles.  rough pavement and pavement with larger aggregate will wear tires faster.